SUPER Sunday

Today was just so awesome that I feel the need to post before this high goes away!

James and I actually woke up early today.  It was painful, but we did.  We left prepared for a hike on the scooter before 8am.  I know...that sounds pathetic compared to our old lifestyle.  We drove about one hour into the mountains to the Five Fingers trail.  The morning was pleasantly cooler than the recent city temperatures.  The trail was incredible.  It was the most rugged and secluded trail we have hiked in Taiwan.  During the 2.5 hour hike, we probably saw about 20 people.  Although the trail was tough, we saw a variety of people.  We mostly saw families that ranged from 7 year old children to 75 year old adults.  The trail was only about 20% stairs and 80% actual trail.  The trail included five peaks - thumb, index, middle, ring and you guessed it...pinky.  The views were great!  We also learned that a couple of apples combo'ed with a pack of uncooked ramen noodles makes a good hiking snack.

The Five Fingers mountains from a distance

Scenic spot on the drive

James had to be in some of the pictures this time!!!!  Here's the trail. 

The thumb peak

Scenic view

The index finger peak

The naughty middle finger peak

Hiking through a bamboo forest

The ring finger peak...so sweet

The pinky finger had the best view

The pinky finger peak

Random display of dragons and rainbows near the start of the trail

Afterwards, we drove back through the town of Beipu.  We joined the crowd and took a dip in the cold springs.  They were quite refreshing!

James and I picked this more secluded area for our dip.  The waterfall was pretty painful but the locals hung out under it anyways. 

We headed to the famous Old Street of Beipu to find some much needed lunch.  Beipu is known for the Hakka aborignial tribe.  We tried free samples of the popular Hakka tea and dried persimmon.  We followed it up with a traditional Hakka veggie meal of rice noodles (that tasted like Thai food), pickled cucumbers and cabbage.  I was able to use my Chinese writing abilities to write the vegetarian symbol so they knew which meal to serve us!  James was impressed by my skills :)

On the way home, we met with a guy James communicated with through the Facebook  group "Hsinchu Buy/Sell/Trade."  We bought a Beginner's Chinese Textbook.  Another guy from the group is mailing us the matching audio.  We will learn some Chinese no matter what!

We hurried home to defunk and rerag to make it to a 5pm English church service I found online.  We went in with no expectations.  Although our first impression entering the church was a bit awkward, the service was surprisingly great.  There were about 20 people at the church.  We sang some songs.  Then, the preacher spoke about Jacob's struggles for about one hour.  It was very interesting!  Then, we took communion.  During the communion, the preacher gave a detailed description of why we were taking communion.  After the service, we stayed and spoke to people for an hour.  We will be going back to this church!  It seems like such a tight-knit, caring, fun community.  They really seem to know the Scripture and bring a focus to personal prayer.  Way cool.

The answer to the puzzle is: Drink from the mattress spring, eat a date from the calendar, and use a piano key to open the locked door.

Random photo -

James loves to see road construction because they use these fake flagmen!

Have a great week everyone!